Municipality/Region

Catalonia, Spain

Summary

Instituts Oberts works for educational success and social cohesion, focusing on students with an immigrant background in high schools which are classified as highly complex. Several departments of the Catalan Government operate together with municipal councils to implement free-time activities in high schools, outside of normal school hours. The activities are related to the educational success of the students.

Areas of integration covered by practice

Integration of migrants in the education system

Background and purpose

The school dropout rate among immigrant students is more than twice as high as the rate among Spanish-citizen students. Although the difference is smaller, there is also a big gap between the dropout rates of students whose parents are foreigners and those whose parents are not. Institut Oberts aims to reduce the gaps in school dropout rates and to improve the academic results of students with diverse backgrounds so they will have better opportunities in the future.

Timeframe

This programme started in 2018 and is ongoing.

How does it work?

The Education Department chooses the high schools where Institut Oberts will be implemented. Once the high schools are selected, a programme leader is hired for each location. The programme leader analyses the situation of the high school together with the principal’s office. The analysis must take into account the school’s education plan and the education policies of the municipal council.

After making the analysis, the programme leader and the principal’s office set goals and make a draft of the annual programme (Revitalisation Plan), which must be approved by the school board. When the Revitalisation Plan is adopted, the programme leader plans different activities throughout the year, which can include:

• Additional educational activities
• Sports
• Cultural and artistic activities
• Educational leisure activities
• Training and participation activities for families
• Linguistic activities

In addition to a final evaluation conducted by all actors who are involved, the principal’s office monitors the activities and gives feedback to the programme leader throughout the project.

Results and evaluation

The programme was implemented in 2018. It is therefore still too early to have an evaluation of long-term outcomes. An evaluation of the programme overall will be conducted five years after its first edition.

Funding

This programme is financed entirely by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia). The annual budget is approximately €390,000.